Sustainable intensification of crop-livestock systems to improve food security and farm income diversification in the Ethiopian highlands
Project Design Workshop
30 January - 2 February 2012, Addis Ababa Ethiopia

Group feedback - site selection (Stanley Wood)
This workshop provides an opportunity for a broad group of important stakeholders to both learn about the project plans and to share their views on expectations from and opportunities for synergies with the project (days 1 and 2) and for the core project team to finalize the project details (days 3 and 4).


Principles to keep in mind:
  • High level indicators were a bit lost in the site selection;
  • "Push and pull": high potential, high opportunities - the dynamics between locations could become part of the project research methodology;
  • Demand and supply: We need a diagnosis of problems, not only for storytelling but also to legitimize why we are working there;
  • Livelihood integration unit in the MoA: We need to look at systems and pull diagnoses together as helpful frameworks for our supply side to respond;
Site selection:
  • There is a whole spectrum of legume opportunities etc. (???);
  • Nobody mentioned teff but it has tremendous opportunities on the livestock side;
  • Difficult to tell much about longer term but we would like to have a group of Addis-based people to put together a team mixing gov't, CG, other local institutions etc. on development and research sides to build advice and direction, come up with specific suggestions for a framework including geographic, household, gradients' items. A certain approval mechanism could then be elaborated;
  • Site selection is an ongoing process over the next few years;
Short term:
  • 3-4 specific locations based on systems based on existence of research capacities and opportunities;
  • For longer term process, we need to have all information and clear understanding of where research partners are working e.g. CRSPs, SLP etc.